LAWYER HOPES TO FLY WITHIN TWO WEEKS

Ludlow Says He Has Sailed 25 Yards in the Air.

USES SYSTEM OF AEROPLANES

Lot at Riverside Avenue and Ninetieth Street
the Scene of His Experimental Flights.

If Israel Ludlow, a graduate of Ann Arbor in the class of '95 and a lawyer
in this city for the last ten years does not have in operation within the
next two weeks a flying machine which really flies, he will be a much
disappointed man. He has been building the machine for several months in the
vacant lot at West End Avenue and Seventy-eighth Street.

Since his college days Mr. Ludlow has been interested in aeronautics. He
knows a lot about air currents, the supporting power of the atmosphere, the
resistance to a forward movement therein, and other matters pertaining to the
steering, starting, maintenance of equilibrium, and safe alighting of flying
machines.

Using a tetrahedral kite of his own construction, he has been interesting
residents of Riverside Avenue, at the corner of Ninetieth Street, for some
weeks, and has achieved flights of 25 yards under conditions not always
favorable.

The complex machine on the wings of which he expects to fly is now almost
complete. A. S. Littlejohn, carpenter and builder, has been constructing it
under his direction. There remains only the installation of the motor which
is to furnish power for its propellers, and the conclusion of experiments
designed to establish its structural strength. Safely moored behind the stone
walls of the lot where it has been put together, its great wings show from the
street, and many conjectures as to the character of the contrivance have been
made by passers-by.

In his experiments Mr. Ludlow has had the united support of west side
boydom. There is not a youngster who has laid eyes on either tetrahedral kite
or flying machine who is not his willing slave. To the volunteer aid derived
from juvenile sources, Mr. Ludlow admits a deep debt of gratitude. His kite
is some 25 feet wide and 10 feet from front to back. The boys, as many of
them as can catch hold, carry it from one point to another as he directs.

"If they don't behave themselves I don't let them work," he said
yesterday afternoon.

"There is no reason in the world why man shouldn't fly,"
continued Mr. Ludlow. "It is probable that his first flights will be
short and crude, as the jumps and hops of a young bird are. In time, though,
he will spurn the earth, and his movements in the air, like those of a
full-grown bird, will be free and untrammeled. When it is, a new world will
be opened. The jungles of Africa will be explored. The pole may be gained.
War will be a back number.

"The problem is not unsolvable. Prof. Langley of the Smithsonian
Institution has proved that, under favorable circumstances, a maximum weight
of 200 pounds per horse power expended may be sustained. Hiram Maxim and
other inventors have constructed engines which weigh less than ten pounds for
each horse power developed. Care must now be devoted to the general form of
the flying machine with the object of obtaining automatic equilibrium and safe
support.

"I am on the verge of completing a full-size flying machine. I have
built it on the aeroplane principle, with no gas bag or balloon to support it.
The framework is of light bamboo, 1 1/4 inches in diameter, and the wings are
covered with light canvas, treated with a preparation of boiled linseed oil.
The joints are bolted with 3-16-inch bolts and bound with light yacht marlin.
There are two groups of superimposed aeroplanes placed by pairs in tandem
fashion.

"The two halves of each of the two middle aeroplanes are set at a
diedral angle with each other. The upper forward aeroplane is a trapezoid in
shape. Its forward edge is 13 feet and its rear edge 18. Its sides are 7
feet 3 inches in length and it has a depth of 6 1/2 feet. The middle front
aeroplane forms a diedral angle with the top of its sides reaching the upper
aeroplane. Its two halves are 7 1/2 feet long. The lower front aeroplane,
rectangular, has a width of 10 feet, and the upper rear aeroplane, also
rectangular, is 21 feet wide. The two halves of the diedral rear aeroplane
are each 11 feet wide by 6 1/2 feet in depth. The lower rear aeroplane is 9
feet wide.

"There is a total of 556 1/4 square feet of surface, the diedral angle
aeroplanes giving direction to the line of flight and preventing oscillation.
They also give lateral stability, for when the machine tilts the halves of the
diedral angle of the aeroplanes which are down are more horizontal than those
which are on the other side and receive consequently greater air pressure, the
equilibrium being thus restored. Longitudinal equilibrium is gained by
dividing the air current that passes under the surface of the aeroplanes.

"The motor is below the aeroplanes, bringing the centre of gravity
below the centre of pressure. By a simple arrangement of levers connected
with the lower front aeroplane automatic equilibrium is imparted. The machine
is mounted on four bicycle wheels, the two front wheels being capable of
guidance. This arrangement permits alighting at an acute angle and rolling
upon the ground or gaining headway for flight.

"I weigh 167 pounds. The flying machine weighs 165 pounds, without
the motor, and the motor weighs 75 pounds. This gives a total weight of 307
pounds, or one and six-tenths square feet of surface for each pound of weight
to be lifted. That this proportion is desirable I have verified by many
experiments with models and man-lifting kites.

"There are two propellers of four blades each, 8 feet in diameter and
varying in width from 5 inches to 18 inches at the extreme edge. The blades
are in pairs, one behind the other.

"I have applied for patents on some parts of my machine, but I wish
that those who are interesting themselves along the same lines would keep on.
I believe in the general advancement of the science and when I make my public
trial I shall be glad to communicate with those who are working along the same
lines with me. It will be glad to score a success at the first trial, but
progress in the science of flying has been built on failures. If the machine
should not fly, I shall not abandon my experiments, but will keep on until I
build one that does."